Sharingan High
by The Dragon Lover
Summary: That girl suddenly popped up into his life. And she piqued his curiosity, too. She held a secret, and he wanted to find out what it was. DISCONTINUED.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, I've never done a Naruto fanfic before, so at least bark before you bite! I would like to know exactly **_**what **_**you don't like before you try to chew me out by going 'OMG I HAET DIS JOO SUCKZZZ JOO SHUOLD BE SEUED!!!' since this is a first. Oh well, I've been playing with the idea for a while now, and it would be a nice, fresh thing to do after toiling on my other stories! X3 Yeah, I know, I'm pathetic; I keep on making new stories to escape my old ones! 3X Now I'm sad…I don't think I can continue writing this now…**

**Aww, who the hell am I kidding? o.0 On with the fic!**

_**Summary: **__That girl suddenly popped up into his life. And she piqued his curiosity, too; she held a secret, and he wanted to find out what it was._

_**Sharigan High**_

'Damn bus.'

The redhead grumbled to himself, his right eye twitching dangerously. 'Bus driver hasn't changed much from last year. I should just kill her the next time I see her…' He sighed and continued walking, deciding to ignore the stares he received (mostly from females). It's not like he cared what they thought; if they _could _think. They were just girls; a bunch of stupid, obsessive, psychotic girls. If they weren't so crazy, he would have been smug for having such a huge fanbase.

After all, it was a bit bigger than that damn Uchiha's group of screaming, bumbling fangirls.

The only person more egotistical and arrogant than Sasuke was Gaara.

He walked along the street, being extra cautious in case one of the mobs of females decided to take their chances, and he rolled his eyes as they all giggled and pointed at him with their secret conversations. He muttered, "Such a waste of the human species…" That is, if they were human; he was beginning to have doubts.

What sucked worse then missing the bus was that he had to deal with them more and more often, what with Valentines Day coming up and everything. Okay, it was really a month away, but that damn Uchiha had made him a bet that he couldn't refuse, since Gaara _never_ backed down from a challenge, and _now_ he had to try to find one person out of all of the screaming, bumbling fangirls that would satisfy his standards for a day and 'go out with him', as the raven-headed annoyance had so calmly called it, even though he was never one to look for a date and hadn't planned on getting one soon until Sasuke bet him and now –

_Bonk!_

_Thud, thud!_

"Ow!"

"Ow!"

He had been so caught up in his thoughts (yes, the sentence was run-off for a reason, folks!) that he hadn't noticed the quick footsteps until too late. Standing back up quickly and glaring at the offending person, he wondered who would dare break him out of his deep contemplation and – she seemed so familiar…

The girl in question was still on the ground, holding her pained head as she grumbled about 'not looking in front of her' and 'getting into as much trouble as possible'. Her hair was long and black, almost like looking at the midnight sky, and her attire echoed the same thing; her baggy black cargo pants and black shirt _way _too big for her (he suspected she shopped in the men's section) made her almost completely swallowed in a black abyss (_talk_ about a _pattern_). She had her eyes shut, as if that would help her pain in the least, and it took her a while before she realized she was, indeed, sitting on the ground and had, indeed, run into someone. Immediately, her eyes shot open (revealing amazing and respect-earning blood-red eyes), and she got up with a guilty and apologetic look on her face as she asked, "Are you alright?" She looked more concerned than he liked, her eyes filled with a pity that made him somewhat angry. He didn't _want _pity.

He told her harshly, "_Fine._" He watched with satisfaction as she flinched back slightly, wondering if he should smirk that way that always gave others 'chills' (as he recalled a blonde boy had once said while pestering him and the Uchiha), just to frighten her a bit. When he did, though, he got her to do that as well as blush and look away from him in embarrassment. 'Interesting…'

Of course, he _would _be interested in the first female that didn't throw themselves at him and try to act out 'Romeo and Juliet' with him.

Before he could do else anything, however, he heard a faint sound in the distance, like someone…shouting.

The way that the girl before him stiffened up at the voice made it clear who the voice was so angry towards.

"Aoki, dammit! I'm going to kick your _ass!_"

Finding the voice familiar, he realized he had heard that before – and, as the owner of the sound turned a corner, he suddenly felt the urge to smirk, roll his eyes, and snicker, all at the same time.

"Out of curiosity, girl, what did you _do _to Uchiha's hair, exactly?"

"Oh, well, I kind of put some dye in his shampoo…he seems to be taking it rather well, isn't he?"

"Yes; indeed, pink _is _his color."

He could feel the pride radiating off of her, as if her smirk wasn't enough, but then her eyes widened at the threats directed towards her by the once-upon-a-time-raven-haired exploding Uchiha. She gulped and muttered something about 'always getting into these kinds of messes', which made him think that she did things like this often. He caught another voice add to the confusion, and he found a smirk finally reach his face.

"And his brother, too?"

"Hey, enough pink to go around!"

"And what is that about lobsters in the shower?"

"Wouldn't _you _like to know?"

He was beginning to like this girl already, although she _had _run into him. He planned on making sure she stayed alive so that she could teach him her ingenious pranking skills. He thought quickly, a brief and faint smirk the only sign that he had a plan as he looked at the girl. He had never really had his fun, had he? "Aoki, is it?"

She looked a bit startled, but she gave a small nod and offered, "My nickname is Ki."

He nodded, his eyes straying over to the Uchiha brothers searching for her with a vengeance. He smirked again. 'No way, Uchiha; she's _mine._'

"Don't scream."

"Wha? What do you –" She gave a small, startled gasp as his arm snaked its way around her waist and pulled her close, their noses nearly touching as her shocked face met his amused one. He wanted to laugh at the expression on her face, but instead he told her, "Just play along."

Whatever protest she might have said, it never left her lips as he suddenly wrapped both of his arms around her and hugged her tightly, forcing her to put her chin on her shoulder so all that Sasuke and Itachi would see was her back. She was stiff, holding her breath in shock, and he let a small chuckle escape him. Females were quite entertaining, for stupid, annoying creatures. Her hair cascaded down her back to her lower back, and he picked up a strand and twirled it with his fingers. It seemed the girl finally understood what he was doing, and so she warily wrapped her arms around him and hid her face into the soft material of his shirt while her hair did the rest.

"Damn that wench, I swear – Gaara, have you seen – _whoa_…"

Again, Gaara had to stop himself from laughing. What was with him and humor today? Must have been something he ate that morning – Kankuro _had_ warned him about eating Temari's eggs that morning. Of course, the look on Sasuke and Itachi's faces were just – what was the word again? – priceless. It seemed the younger brother's jaw might detach itself if it went any lower, while his sibling just stared in astonishment at the two.

Today was _just _his lucky day!

"Umm…" Sasuke suddenly seemed nervous; maybe the thought of losing the bet with Gaara unnerved him. He elbowed his elder brother and mumbled 'let's go', which was responded in kind with a scowl before they quickly retreated from the 'glare' of the redhead before them. After they were gone, he sighed and released her from his grip, but was surprised to find her still attached to him. After a moment of blinking, he told her, "You can…let go of me now."

"…Eh? _Oh!_" She quickly let go, bowing her head in an unsuccessful attempt to hide her blush as her gaze fell upon the books on the ground. Before she had run into him, those had been in her hands. She gave a weary sigh before she bent down and rushed to pick up her things, and then she stood up and gave a small bow and mumbled another 'sorry' for good measure as she turned to leave. Gaara, however, realized something and quickly reached out and grabbed her hand to stop her. She froze as was expected, looking at him in shock as he examined her face again. 'Why the hell is she so familiar?'

"I'm Gaara."

After a moment of silence, the girl gave him a nod in understanding. "Alright. I'll…see you around?" Her uncertainty made him think that maybe she _did _want to see him. Like most every female in the world did.

"…Perhaps."

She nodded once more, not pushing for anything else out of him, and he figured out the best way to bewilder the poor girl. Remembering what had happened the first time he did it, he gave her another smirk that told her that he planned on seeing her again as well. He liked the way she shivered and reddened once more, and he couldn't want for anything else out of that day as she quickly turned and ran off, clearly wanting to get away before she could humiliate herself anymore.

He looked down at the sidewalk to realize that there were still some of her things left on the ground; she was too far away to hear him, though, so he only sighed and picked up her things before they blew away. It consisted of: a black purse (should have guessed that one, folks!), some important looking folders, and two books. He supported the load in his arms and shifted his weight, only to catch his eye on something fluttering in the breeze.

The girl was…different, to say the least. She definitely wasn't like any of the girls he had met before; she didn't squeal when she saw him and hug him to try to get anything out of him, and she was running _away_ from him. If _that _didn't get his attention, a _nuclear bomb_ wouldn't have done much more.

He snatched the paper out of the air and skimmed over it. 'What luck.' He pondered the possibility of being a lucky person or having a lucky charm as he reread the paper over and over again. He had, in his hand, a paper that had both her address as well as her school information.

She lived down the street from him.

She went to the same school.

They were classmates.

"This is going to be fun…"


	2. Chapter 2

**Yeah! Chapter 2 is UP! YEAHOO! (does a happy dance) Okay, I need to explain a few things: yes, the summary in the first chapter is different than the one on the actual summary, because it wouldn't let me put a stupid ';' thing in it, and I had to change it so it was still grammar-correct. I mean, I AM obsessed with making sure I spell things right; typos drive me CRAZY! X3**

**Also, this is not the 'ninja school academy' thing; notice how it's called 'Sharingan High'! They are **_**regular human beings**_**, not **_**crazed ninja people with super powers.**_** I hope I made that clear in the **_**first **_**chapter, what with Gaara not using his sand to kill the Uchiha brothers, but…well, I've seen the extent of stupid people. Anyways, on with the fic!**

_**Summary: **__That girl suddenly popped up into his life. And she piqued his curiosity, too; she held a secret, and he wanted to find out what it was._

_**Sharingan High**_

'1419 Cranberry Way…'

He looked up from the slip of paper he had in his hands, and, sure enough, he was at the right place. 'Now I can return that girl – Aoki her stuff. _And _a chance to talk to her more.' He grinned at the prospect of her blushing when he smirked. 'After all, I _do _want to win that bet.'

_Crash!_

He sweatdropped, glancing at the house cautiously. 'What the _hell _is going on in there?'

"Ki-chan, you're going to miss your lessons!"

_Bang!_

He sweatdropped again, but he walked up to the front door anyways and eavesdropped – err, happened to listen as he steeled himself to knock on the door. (Yeah, that's it…)

"_Dammit, _Aoki, if you can't go down the stairs _without _falling at least _one time_ – and you spilled my coffee all over your brand new shoes! What'll I drink now? And what do you _mean, _'you can't find your homework'? _Gah!_"

For some reason, that female voice sounded familiar as well. The image of cherry blossoms came to mind. It seemed the girl knew many people he did.

There was another crash, followed by a howl and a 'my flower case!' from the angry woman. He began to have second thoughts about his plan, but he cast them aside and held up his arm to knock.

_Knock, knock, knock…_

The silence that followed afterwards unnerved him nearly to the point of nervousness.

"Aoki, get the door!"

"But, Sakura –"

"_Now!_"

"Alright, geez! 'Get the door, Aoki', 'do the dishes, Aoki', 'clean your room, Aoki'…" The grumbled continued as footsteps came closer to the door. "Stupid pinky with her bossy attitude problems and mood swings and –"

The door opened, and it was silent once more.

Gaara stood there, holding her things in his arms as he blinked expectantly. Aoki blinked back, her surprise evident on her face. She was frozen with her hand on the doorknob, like a deer in headlights. They both stood there a while, staring at each other like the most normal thing to do in the world was to stand on the front porch and have a staring contest. Gaara won, of course, because she looked down and put her hands behind her back. He could swear he heard her gulp nervously. "Umm…hey?"

"Aoki? Hey, Ki-chan, who is it?"

"Uhh!" She looked around anxiously, as if hoping the woman wouldn't come. "N-Nothing! Just, uhh…a cat! Yeah, it's a cat!"

"…A _cat?_ Okaaaay…"

"_What are you doing here?_" She hissed out quietly, trying not to alert the woman inside of the new visitor. Gaara blinked. "You forgot a few things." He shifted his arms so that his cargo was more noticeable. "I came to return them."

"_Shh!_"

He frowned slightly. 'Did she just _shush_ me? The _nerve…_'

"Why?"

"I don't want Sakura coming over and seeing you and getting the wrong ideas!" Here, as she become to whisper loudly (the quiet equivalent of shouting), her face turned a bit red, especially near her ears. He now noticed that, whenever she blushed, her ears would also become a bit red.

"'Wrong ideas'?"

"Wait!" She snapped her fingers as a smile lit up her face. "I have an idea! Come with me!" She grabbed his arm and closed the door behind her as she snuck around the house, dragging him to a spot underneath the second-story window that belonged to (he guessed) her room. She then turned and tapped the trunk of a tree for a moment, before her finger found a knot in the bark that sunk in with a '_click!_' which was responded with the unlocking and opening of her window before she climbed up a (conveniently placed) trellis with vines for handholds and pulled herself up and in, motioning for him to do the same.

Gaara had to give her credit; the girl had skills, style, _and _game.

"You're just a little rascal, aren't you?"

He was rewarded to see her blush again as she mumbled something about 'being a genius with misunderstood intentions'. He climbed in after her, and he eyed her as she quickly closed the window and then proceeded to do the same to the door. Then, she turned to the wall beside it and flicked up a switch, but instead of a light coming on, the television on the other side of the room flickered to life, showing a detailed view of the hallway in front of the door, as well as several other strategic places throughout the house.

Oh, yeah; the girl _definitely _had game.

"Aoki."

"…Hm?" She tilted her head slightly, her hair spilling over one shoulder, as she reminded him of a curious puppy. "Yes, Gaara?"

"Why is it that you like the color black so much?"

Indeed, the reason he asked this was because black was virtually the only theme there; the bed only had two red pillows to break the wave of darkness, and it was only the paint on the walls, a burgundy that reminded him of dried blood, that made it looked anything other than a black _hole_.

"Umm…" It seemed he had caught her red-handed with something, for she looked away nervously and stuttered, "…N-No reason!" Her hair covered her face, and he noted that in certain lights it seemed iridescent, as it seemed to shine a bit red from the walls around them. It was as if it mirrored the mood she was in, in this case being embarrassment.

She jumped when he handed her the things left forgotten in his arms, and she barely got a grip of them before he let go, causing her to fumble and dump it onto her bed and straighten it in an attempt to not make the room any messier than it already was (unless papers all over the room and old pizza boxes didn't count as making the room dirty). At Gaara's questioning stare, she sighed and shook her head. "Sakura's always getting on my case; 'Aoki, you need to clean better!', 'Aoki, you can't _possibly _live in this filth!'. Grr…" She rolled her eyes. "You know, she's my roommate, and yet she acts like she's my _mother_."

Gaara nodded, understanding how she felt _immediately_. "Temari is the same way."

"Roommate?"

"No, try 'older sister'."

"Ah." She nodded, as if that made the most logical sense in the world. Then, "Do you have any brothers?"

"One. Kankuro."

"What's he like?"

"Annoying." She laughed. "I'm serious."

"I know! It's just – you looked so _sour _when you said that!" She put a hand over her mouth as if to hide the giggles escaping it.

He rolled his eyes and responded in kind, "So did _you _when speaking of your roommate."

She just shrugged. "Eh, I know that she's really doing it for my own good."

He didn't comment on that, instead choosing to let his gaze wander around the room. His eyes caught on the TV, and, oh-so-calmly, he told her, "The pink-head is coming."

"Who, Sasuke?" She grinned, and then she looked at the screen. She cursed under her breath, "Shit…_dammit! _I don't want to resort to pushing you out of a two-story window…kidding!" She held up her hands in defense at his glare. "Geez, take a joke…_ooh!_" She snapped her fingers and smiled once more. "I have another idea!"

He decided not to make a wise-crack about 'her and her wonderful ideas' that seemed to get her into trouble (although the result was quite hilarious) as he watched her run over to the closet. After moving some things out of the way of the door, she turned to him and motioned towards the now open closet. "Closet!"

"Yes, I _know _it's a closet."

"_No, _I mean – _get in there!_"

He finally complied (after getting a rough shove in the right direction) and walked into the fairly large closet, turning around just in time to see Aoki close the door behind him. She left it open just enough, however, that he could see her whirl around as her bedroom door swung open. Aoki was in front of the crack in the door, however, so he could not get a glimpse of her roommate. Instead, he listened to the voices:

"…Aoki? Ki-chan, what _are _you doing?"

Gaara was aware that Aoki had turned around guiltily deer-in-headlights-like, looking like a little kid that had her hand halfway in the cookie jar.

His stomach growled at the thought, reminding him he hadn't had breakfast that morning. 'Cookies…'

"I was…oh, I found my homework!" Gaara saw her wave a paper in the air, which reminded him of the slip safe in his pocket. He smirked and patted the hidden paper, as if to reassure himself that he still had her schedule.

"Oh, really?" A pause… "Wait, when did you get up here?"

"Silly! I _walked _up the stairs! Didn't you see me?"

Okay, _maybe _she didn't have any style…

Another pause. "_No_, actually…how _did_ you get up here?"

"Oh, _come on_, Sakura! I _walked!_ How _else_ did I get in? Through the _window?_"

Gaara willed himself to not laugh at that by biting his tongue.

"Okay…just…hurry up! You have to get there for your lessons!"

"Okay!" Aoki laughed and waved. "Bye, Sakura-chan!"

"_Yeah_, yeah – have a good day!"

As soon as the door closed behind her roommate, Aoki's shoulders slumped in weariness. "Oi…it's getting harder and harder to get past her nowadays! Maybe I should rethink my technique…"

She was _definitely _different from other girls.

There was a sigh, before the midnight-haired teenager opened the closet door completely, greeting him with a small smile. "You can come out now," she said quietly, as if she thought Sakura would be at the door listening.

"I rather like it in here."

"Wha?" She blinked. "But, it's…you…" She sighed. "Never mind…" He heard her mutter something along the lines of 'odd males' with their 'strange tendencies'.

"What are these 'lessons' your roommate keeps talking about?"

Her ears were red once more, making him smirk slightly as he was amused by her embarrassment. He waited as patiently as possible before she finally told him, "Sakura forced me to…learn how to defend myself, and she teaches me herself, so…" She trailed off as she looked down and twiddled with her thumbs. 'She's really a nervous creature, isn't she?'

"I take it that you're learning martial arts?"

Nod.

"What type?"

"Tae-Quon-Do." (Yes, I KNOW that's misspelled; sue me for not remembering after a few years!)

He raised an eyebrow at her in doubt. "Really?"

"_Yeah!_" She gave him a firm glare as she put her hands on her hips to confront him. "I can do a few things to defend myself in extreme situations!"

Doubt turned into interest, and maybe a bit of impishness. "_Really?_"

"_Yeah_, rea – why are you looking at me like that?"

"_Any _situation?"

"Umm…I guess…but why –"

He was in front of her before she could even 'know what hit her' (another quote from the annoying blonde boy), and he grabbed her wrists quickly before forcing her down onto the ground. She gave a small yelp as she lay on her back with him on top of her, pinning her down. She looked up at him in surprise, a blush growing on her face as he smirked down at her.

"You can defend yourself, huh?"

"I…I…uhh…"

"_While _we are like this," he grinned, having more fun than he's had in years, "I should do _this _before you can hit me for it…" He leaned in closer, his grin getting bigger as she grew more nervous.

"Do wha –"

_Ring-ring-ring, ring-ring-ring, phone call, phone call!_

(DL: Yes, I totally jacked it from the Pokemon series! MUAHAHA!)

They both froze, their ears perked up for the phone. Caught off guard, Aoki quickly rolled over so that he wasn't on top anymore and leapt to her feet, dashing over to the phone while Gaara scowled. 'Damn! Almost had her…'

(DL: Ha ha! Poor Gaara was having fun! (gets hit by Gaara) OWW!)

"Hello?"

He sat up and watched her as she listened to whoever it was on the other line. She bit her lower lip, looking a bit anxious while she waited for her turn to speak.

"…Uhh…yeah…yeah, I did it. Why do…again? But I thought you…_grrr_…" She huffed and glowered at the phone. "_Uzumaki Naruto, _I _told _you I wouldn't do your homework for you!"

'She knows Naruto? Hmm…' He pondered while absentmindedly listening to Aoki. 'I thought the name 'Sakura' sounded familiar…'

"_No!_ And if you ask Sakura-chan, it'll be the same thing!" She stomped her foot down, and then she continued listening. "But, Naruto – _yes_, I _know _you're having trouble in World History, but – _yes, _you _are _my roommate-turned-friend's-best-friend, ultimately being _my _friend, but…"

'And I thought she was clever. She obviously can't get rid of him.' Then, he remembered how he had to save her from the Uchiha brothers' wrath. 'She can't get out of _anything _at _all._' Smirking, he stood up and crept over to stand behind her and, unexpectedly, hugged her from behind.

He really was having fun with this.

"_Eek!_ _Gaara!_"

He smirked as she quickly pushed him away, stammering, "Uhh, no! I didn't say that! Uhh, listen, I gotta go! See-you-later-love-ya-_bye!_" She barely choked out a 'good-bye' before slamming the phone down, panting as if she had just gotten the crap scared out of her. She glared at the smirking redhead as she hissed, "What was _that _for?"

"You needed help."

"Help? Help _wha –_"

"You needed to get rid of him," he stated simply, shrugging as if it was completely normal to hug someone. "I helped you do that."

"But, I – I didn't – he's my – _argh!_" She held her head and mumbled, "My head hurts…"

"Aren't you supposed to be leaving?" Gaara asked calmly as he examined the sand beneath his fingernails. He smirked to himself as she straightened up and gulped. "Uh-oh!" She began to run to the door, then thought better of it and went to the window. Gaara stopped her, however, by grabbing her by her waist and jumping down with a startled Aoki in his arms. He looked at her and shrugged once more. "I thought that you would need help getting there in time."

"But, I can walk to the park – _Gaara_, not in _public_ – _gaaaaah! Not so __**fast!**_"


	3. Chapter 3

**Heehee, I love how I ended that chapter! It's so funny! (grins) Anyways, I want to clear a few MORE things up here! Gaara may seem OOC, but that's because he's more egotistical than cold, and it's also a HUMOR fic! This is for COMEDY, not REALITY! Second, I KNOW that Aoki seems a lot like my Pokemon role-play character, Sevila, but, as you know, I know virtually nothing on the case of Naruto (except for little tidbits from fanfics and websites), so I didn't know what to do on the base of making a fan character. So, I resorted to one I know and love and tweaked her a bit! I shall soon tweak her so much that she can get her own profile!**

**And third, YES, Sakura is her roommate, and YES, they know Naruto! We're getting to that and other characters eventually!**

_**Summary: **__That girl suddenly popped up into his life. And she piqued his curiosity, too; she held a secret, and he wanted to find out what it was._

_**Sharingan High**_

Aoki was lucky that Gaara decided she was heavy before they entered the park, for Sakura met them as soon as they stepped inside. Sakura eyed Gaara suspiciously, her eyebrows furrowed as if trying to remember where she had seen him before, until Aoki made a 'comment' about 'foreheads' and 'staring'. That caused Sakura to get angry. And an angry Sakura wasn't a nice Sakura. She had looks that could kill, too.

Gaara had been slightly impressed by the fact that Aoki only fell down five times during the first few minutes of her training. She did seem to be 'getting the hang of it' (another blonde's quotes; he's just full of them, isn't he?), though, and she felt she had progressed as she skipped out of the park an hour later happily, ignoring the countless injuries caused by the pink-haired girl's hard blows. I mean, _damn! _The girl's got a _punch!_ Unfortunately, this was where his cell rang, and he excused himself temporarily so he could scowl at the phone before picking it up.

"Hello?"

"_Hey, _Gaara! What's up?"

'Dammit…' "What do you want, Kankuro?"

"Geez, don't be so cold to your own flesh and blood…_anyways!_" Gaara winced at the volume of his brother's voice. "I've heard that you were caught hugging some chick – is that true? Where _are _you, anyways?"

"That's none of your –"

"_Ooh, _isn't that so _cute?_" Gaara turned to look at Aoki and Sakura smiling at a kitten in the window of a pet store.

"Was that a girl I heard? _Two? _Wait, are you –"

"Gotta go," he grumbled and snapped the phone shut, seeing red. He glared at the device as Aoki and Sakura walked up next to him. Aoki tilted her head curiously at him and asked, "Who was it?"

"Wrong number."

"Oh…"

It was silent for a bit longer, with Aoki staring at him nervously and Gaara staring at the kittens in the window Aoki had just been cooing over, ignoring the glares the pink-haired girl sent him. (Aoki: I DO NOT COO!) (DL: Shut up, it's a story, dumbass!) Then…

_Ring, ring!_

Sighing in exasperation, he opened it again and asked strained, "What do you want?"

He had to put the phone at arm's length, however, as the yelling began. "_Dammit, Gaara, don't you hang up on me! Are you hanging out with a girl?!_"

"I said leave me _alone_, Kankuro!" He snapped it shut again, his eye starting to twitch dangerously. Aoki, oblivious to his frustration, asked, "Was that your brother?"

"Yes, it –"

_Ring, ri – _

With murder in his eyes, Gaara snatched the phone up to his ear and yelled, "_Dammit, Kankuro, I said 'leave me alone'!_"

"_This isn't Kankuro, baka!_"

Blink. "Oh…" Blink. Blink. "Hello, Temari."

Silence…

"What did you want?"

She had obviously been waiting for that. "Well, I just wanted to tell you that you have to bring your girlfriend over to the house, because you guys aren't doing _anything _unless I approve –"

"_I don't have a damn girlfriend!_" He nearly snapped the phone in half as he flipped it closed and quickly pocketed it, his eye returning to its twitching as his thoughts took a dark and murderous turn for the worst. Images of his brother and sister's corpses made him smirk evilly, earning him a strange look from passerby and the two girls beside him. The midnight-haired one was blinking in confusion and surprise, while her friend just narrowed her eyes at him and seemed to be trying to make holes appear on his head. Too bad it wasn't working.

"What was _that _about?" Aoki asked, unaware of Sakura's behavior as the iridescent black hair shimmered a faint pink that came from Sakura's hair.

"…Nothing."

"Err…_okay…_"

_Ring, ring!_

Nothing…

_Ring, ring!_

"Aren't you going to answer that?"

He shook his head. "Nope."

"But…what if it's important?"

"There's an answering machine."

**Gaara's Answering Machine**

_**Beep!**_

_Hello, this is Gaara. I am not answering because I am ignoring you, and unless you want to wear your intestines as a necktie, I suggest you stop calling. If you __**really **__want to push your luck, leave a message. It's not like I'll call back or anything._

_**Beep!**_

(DL: And now, a time skip…FYI, the first chapter was Saturday, and last chapter was Sunday. I was just finishing Sunday off in the beginning of this chapter, so now we're going to Monday!)

_Monday, 7:30 a.m.…_

"_Gah!_ I'm gonna be _late!_"

Gaara rolled his eyes as his brother ran throughout the house to gather all of his things. The redhead was already packed and was currently eating a bowl of hot tomato soup for breakfast. He felt like having soup, and, well, it was _red._ What other reason do you need?

"You know, Kankuro," Temari called from the living room, where she was almost done with the homework she hadn't finished, "if you had gotten it all ready _yesterday_ instead of goofing off, you wouldn't _have _this problem."

"Shut up, Temari!" He grumbled as he tried to hop around the house while putting his shoes on at the same time. By the way he cursed and there was a loud '_thump!_' Gaara guessed it didn't work. Finally, after what had to be ten minutes of cursing and running around, Kankuro burst out of the front door to the car, where Gaara and Temari were already waiting. He leapt into the car while it began to back out and barely shut the door before Temari sped off down the street. (DL: FYI, I don't know whether Kankuro or Temari is the older one, so I'll just have it as Temari! (punches triumphant fist into air proudly) GO, BIG SISTERS!)

"_Soooo…_" Temari began, looking in the rearview mirror to look at the two in the backseat, Kankuro on the right and Gaara on the left. "…How are you, Gaara-chan?"

He began to answer her truthfully with something along the lines (or word) of 'fine' when Kankuro snickered, "_Yeah, 'Gaara-chan'!_ How _have _you been doing?"

_Thump!_

Gaara's eye twitched as he watched Kankuro rub his abused head, an inward satisfaction lifting his mood slightly. He hissed, "_Don't even start, Kankuro._"

"Talk about a 'raw nerve'…" He winced again as the redhead gave him another '_thwack!_' on the same shoulder. "Oww! Alright, already! Geez…" He looked away grumbling about 'mood swings' and 'insomniacs'.

"As much as I hate to encourage Kankuro-chan," here Temari gave the middle brother a death glare, "I _would _like to know where you've been this weekend." When he shrugged emotionlessly, she sighed and said, "Don't let my mind go to the gutter."

"I was with a friend," he answered immediately, not wanting anything of the like to spring to anyone's mind. "I was returning her things –"

"_Her? __**Oww!**_" Temari had thrown a book behind her to shut him up. She growled, "What did I say, Kankuro?" He just grumbled and shot her a dirty look that vowed 'I will get you for this'. She then politely told Gaara, "Please continue."

He nodded, glaring at Kankuro for a moment before he turned to his sister and explained further. "I had run into her –" 'Well, she into me,' "And she left a few things. Her address was in one of the books, and so I returned it to her."

"And it took you a few days?"

He shrugged. "I didn't sleep, as usual, instead taking the nighttime to travel around and sample some of the fast food restaurants' cooking as I thought about what had happened when I met her…" He trailed off, thinking about it once more.

"…And?"

"She was running from the Uchiha brothers."

"Why?"

"Would _you _have chased someone for dyeing their hair pink?"

"Oh – _oh!_" She smiled triumphantly, as if remembering something. "I think I've heard about her! Aoki, is it?"

Nod.

"She's done _loads _of stuff like that before! In fact," she smirked at something, "they say she's got a boatload of bad deeds trailing behind her!"

"Really?" Kankuro was suddenly interested in the conversation. "Like what?"

"For example, remember when Kakashi-sensei was all moody and brooding over something a few weeks ago?" Nods from both of them. "Well, she had stolen his 'book' and hidden it in the girls' bathroom! It took him the whole school week to find it!"

"Wow…" Kankuro sounded impressed. "That's a clever fox right there."

"And _then,_" she continued, "she loaded the cafeteria with some mice that ran around and caused hundreds of girls to squeal and leap up onto the tables in attempts to get away!" She then frowned thoughtfully. "I think that was after some of the girls started to pick on her…"

"…Really?" He didn't like to sound interested, so he used his monotonous voice to show he didn't care what she did. "How many sins does she have to follow her to Hell?"

Temari grinned, as if she knew something about the redhead in the backseat. She looked out of the left side window, looked back at the road ahead of her, and then looked again. She slowed to a stop, blinking in surprise.

"What?" Kankuro tried to jump over Gaara to look at whatever it was, but he was shoved back roughly, and he pouted as Gaara glared at him. He asked Temari, "What is it?"

"I…" She shook her head. "I _really _don't know."

Gaara, now interested and not caring if he showed it, turned his head to look out. He blinked, the only sign that he was surprised as he stared at Aoki's front lawn. There, he saw Aoki hopelessly trying to drag an exploding Sakura off of a familiar blonde boy. The redhead smirked. "Let's go."

"_Gaara!_ We can't leave Naruto to his _doom!_" He sighed in disappointment as Temari got out of the car, followed quickly by an eager Kankuro as Gaara reluctantly came close behind. He watched from a safe distance as the words finally came to his ears:

"…_and if you even __**think **__anything like that again, I'll knock you to kingdom come!_"

"I-I-I'm _sorry, Sakura-chan!_"

"Sakura-chan, please let him go! You're choking him!"

"_That's the point!_"

Naruto started to make strange gargling noises as he clawed at Sakura's hands around his throat. Temari sighed, but watched in curiosity as Gaara walked soundlessly to the three on the lawn. He watched from the corner of his eye as Aoki noticed him, and his mouth twitched as he stopped before the three. Sakura, too busy on trying to murder Naruto, didn't acknowledge him.

"Sakura-san."

Choke.

"Pink-san."

Choke, _gargle_.

"_Forehead._"

"_Hey! Don't call me forehead!_" She tried to leap onto Gaara, but Aoki took the chance to wrapped her arms around her and hold her back as she hollered on the top of her lungs, screaming 'let me at 'im' and 'I'm gonna kill him' and other such nasties. Naruto lay gasping for air on the ground, but he recovered after Gaara yanked him up by his hair with a 'stupid baka'. The blonde blinked, but after realizing it was the redhead he grinned stupidly and said, "Hey, Gaara! Thanks for saving me from my death!"

"I only saved you so I could kill you myself."

Naruto didn't seem affected by that, however, and acted as if he hadn't heard it as he glanced at Sakura. Seeing she was preoccupied with trying to get free from Aoki to kill Gaara, he turned and started to tiptoe away.

"_Get back here, Naruto!_"

He yelped and made a break for it, but Sakura finally freed herself from Aoki's grasp and chased after him down the street, their yelling eventually fading into the distance as they got farther and farther away. Sighing heavily, Aoki wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at Gaara, smiling appreciatively. "Thank you," she told him with a nod, but he just remained silent as he stared at her. She seemed to get a bit self-conscious, for she kept messing with the hem of her shirt as she looked down at her feet. She had on a black shirt (_doi!_) that actually fit her and black jeans that flared out at the bottom like blooming flowers. She actually wore a red headband in her hair that pulled it back a bit, so it didn't completely flutter in front of her face as the wind blew it up, as well as sandals similar to Gaara's. She probably wore relaxing clothes on the weekends.

"Hi!" Gaara's eyes narrowed as Kankuro stepped up and held out his hand to introduce himself. "I'm Kankuro."

"Really?" She seemed to brighten at the chance to see Gaara's brother, and she gave him a handshake in return as well as a smile. She looked at Temari behind him and tilted her head, as if thinking. "And are you Temari-chan?"

"Why, yes, I am!" Temari gave her a smile and nodded, acknowledging the girl with some sort of respect and admiration shining in her eyes. She shot a quick glance at Gaara, but he did nothing as he continued to stare at Aoki, who finally met his gaze again and spoke, "And hi, Gaara-san! How are you this morning?"

Again, Gaara's mouth twitched, and he stated bluntly, "Late."

Immediately, Kankuro went onto the defense.

"It's not _my _fault! I had to get my stuff ready and –"

Temari interrupted, "He never _said _it was because of you!" Kankuro flushed in embarrassment. "Besides, that's what _makes _it your fault, baka!" Temari bonked him on the head, which made Aoki giggle and cover her mouth as if to hide her smile. Kankuro rubbed his head and scowled, but it softened when he looked at Aoki.

For some reason, that made Gaara angry.

"So, how did you meet my brother?"

She chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her head, as Naruto had done countless times before. 'She's been around the idiot for too long,' Gaara noted, recognizing the familiar stance she took.

"Well, let's just say I ran into him a few days ago…" She chuckled again, a bit of a blush appearing on her face as she remembered the event. Gaara smirked at the memory, which Aoki's glances caught when she (oh-so-discreetly…_not!_) checked to see his reaction to the question. She blushed a bit more at the embarrassing remembrance and cleared her throat as if to distract herself from her thoughts. "He came over and returned some stuff I had left on the sidewalk when I ran away embarrassed…" She sweatdropped.

"Embarrassed? _Oh,_ the 'run into'…ah." Hankuro nodded, looking as he had figured everything out. "So, he's your friend, right?"

"Yeah!" Aoki smiled. "Anyone I know is virtually in my good graces! Unless, you know, they're mean!" She frowned momentarily, but then the smile was on her face almost as quickly as it had left. "So that means that you guys are my friends, too!"

"Really?" Temari sounded curious towards the girl's behavior. In fact, so was Gaara. 'She's always so damn happy…' He shook his head slightly as he listened to her reassure his sister. "Yeah! You and Kankuro and Gaara are now my friends! Although…" Again, there was a small frown on her face as something crossed her mind. She crossed her arms in response to the thought and considered something as the other three looked at her inquisitively.

"It'd probably be best to keep our distances at school." She nodded in firm resolution, not seeming to notice Temari and Kankuro's puzzlement. Gaara, of course, showed no emotion, and so they all listened as she shrugged and continued, "Yeah, that'd be best; wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong ideas!"

'There she is with that 'wrong ideas' bit again…' Gaara, fed up with the unknown, took a step forward and asked her directly, "What 'wrong ideas' would they get?" He noticed in his peripheral vision the shock on his siblings' faces, but he didn't care. 'I've had enough of secrets!'

"Uhh…" She seemed a bit startled as well that he had stepped forward like that, and she blushed as she looked down at her feet to avoid eye contact. He could guess what she was probably thinking of; the last two times he had been extremely close to her. Little did she know, those were his first two times of _purposely_ getting close to one of the opposite gender. And it felt _good. _Of course, she didn't _have _to know that. It's not like he would tell her, anyways.

Gaara stared at Aoki expectantly, still getting pleasure from the way her ears reddened under his gaze. He could see her gulp, before she cleared her throat and began a bit shaky, "Well, you know, people like you guys probably wouldn't want to get involved with the kind of 'social life' of one like me…" She trailed off, looking like she'd rather not delve into the subject.

Lucky for her, Temari had seemed to take pity on her. "Aww, don't worry about it!" She smiled at Aoki and offered, "Just to show you we don't care what others say, you can come with _us _to school!"

Both Gaara and Kankuro's heads shot up. "What?" It was odd how alike they really sounded at that moment; both were caught unawares. Of course, surprise could do that to you.

"You heard me!" Temari gave them both warning glares, daring them to refuse her the power to allow Aoki to accompany them. Besides, she drove the car. In the end, Kankuro just shrugged like he didn't care, and Gaara just stared back at the blonde for a while until his sister looked away, and as the redhead smirked in his triumph one again of outdoing his sister all four of them got into the car. Since the front had so much crap, and they were probably late as it was so it would be pointless to try to take the time to move it, Aoki offered to sit in the back with the other two. She sat in the middle with Gaara now on her right and Kankuro on her left, acting like a barrier between the brothers that prevented them from talking to one another without leaning forward a bit. So, instead, Aoki decided to talk to either of them.

"Gaara-san? What's your favorite subject?"

His mouth twitched, but as soon as it was there it had gone as he answered, "Math."

Aoki tilted her head, the perfect image of a puppy once more. "Really? Why?"

He debated on not answering her to instead sit in silence, but the look on her face for some reason made him decide to humor her, for her sake. "It's predictable."

"Predictable?" Aoki frowned for a moment, but then it seemed she understood something for her face lit up and she said, "_Oh, __**predictable**_– I get what you mean! In an equation, no matter what, there will always be an answer! I see now." She nodded as if to reassure him that she did indeed understand.

"Well, you know, _History_ is predictable, too." Kankuro decided to join the conversation instead of being a bored bystander. "I mean, it never really changes."

"Hmm…" Aoki put a finger to her chin as if to support it as she thought about the subject. "Well, so is science, _supposedly _– but people think up theories and change what we believe – like Darwin!" She smiled at Kankuro happily, not seeming to feel the annoyance of the redhead behind her. "So, you see, really _everything_ changes, in some way or another!"

Trying to earn her attention again, but not really knowing why he needed it, Gaara decided to change the subject. He said with disinterest, "What is _your _favorite subject?"

He noticed how Temari shifted in her seat in the front and felt her eyes on him, and he cursed himself for his curiosity and lack of caution. He needed to be careful how he worded things or how he stared blankly at someone, because it seemed his sister could tell if he was really interested in something or not.

That's what happens when you live with a guy for most of your life; you understand his inner thoughts. (Well, to an extent)

"Me?" His attention was brought back to the midnight-haired girl beside him at the sound of her surprised inquiry. When he continued to stare at her as a silent answer, she tilted her head back so that she was looking at the ceiling of the car, her face scrunched in thought. She was frowning as if finding the question hard, and she seemed to debate to herself in her mind as the car remained silent in eager expectance. She gave a small 'hmm' that showed she was thinking about the subject, and she put her hands behind her head and crossed her legs as if to get more comfortable. 'Another of the blonde's influences,' Gaara noted subconsciously. It seemed she hung out with Naruto a lot.

"Well…I guess…Language Arts."

"Why?" Kankuro immediately looked uninterested at the word 'language', let alone the class itself. "It's _boring_."

"Well, maybe to _you!_" She grinned at him and giggled a little. For some reason, it didn't sound as annoying to Gaara as the other girls' giggles. Then, the smile left her face as she turned serious, although there was still its ghost on the corners of her lips. "When I say 'Language Arts', I mean the way that people communicate to others – books, newspapers, or casual conversation." At the look of confusion on Kankuro's face, she sighed and decided to elaborate.

"You see, when we go into a war or an argument with one another, it is usually because of some lack of communication or a normal misunderstanding. Many fights between people start because they don't quite see eye-to-eye, or they misinterpret what someone says and twists it to mean something warped of the original implication." Here, her smile had completely disappeared as she appeared as 'serious as a heart attack' (dammit, how many comments does that blonde have?!?) to the other three. It was surprising to see her looking so wise and somber. "In the end, all of our battles are an accident, and the product is only unnecessary blood, and pain." She seemed to sadden at something, her eyes hardening at some thought that strayed into her mind.

Everyone was quiet for a while afterwards, the silence and tension something different than the normal quiet Gaara instilled. In fact, the _redhead_ didn't even like it as he stared at the iridescent hair of the girl beside him. Aoki's hair now had darkened completely, almost as if it had a mind of its own and was showing how much despair and sorrow was really in her head.

As she cast a glance over at Gaara, she seemed to see something that caught her interest. After a moment of blinking, she suddenly shrieked and leaned across his lap to press her face against the window with a muffled, "Naruto-chan!"

Kankuro burst out laughing at the position the two were in as Temari scolded him for laughing. She was virtually in a wide-eyed and slack-jawed Gaara's lap and shouting something about 'foreheads' and 'animal abuse' while the redhead tried to comprehend what had just happened. Temari stopped the car again, and the two of them tumbled out after Aoki fumbled with the handle of the door yelling to get out. They ended up in a very…_uncomfortable _position; Gaara found himself face-to-face with Aoki, their noses touching and eyes staring into one another's with surprise. 'For some reason, I'm getting a strong sense of 'déjà vu'…' He blinked, his body still in shock as blush appeared on both of their faces. He was beginning to wonder that if she blushed enough that her face would stay red.

Gaara got off of her quickly after he noticed that Sakura had stopped trying to choke the blue-faced Naruto to instead stare at the two of them, and he held out his hand as an offer to pull Aoki up. She chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her head, and when she finally did take his hand he heard her mutter, "Déjà vu…"

"Indeed." He smirked when she responded in kind with a blush, and he let go of her hand as soon as she was up to turn to his brother to give him a death glare. After a few minutes of laughter, Gaara finally grew tired of waiting and kicked Kankuro's stomach as he rolled on the ground. Kankuro instantly grew quiet, and as Temari helped him up Gaara started to walk in the direction of the school. He didn't want to be _super_ late if he could help it.

"Hey – wait!" Aoki ran up after him, and he allowed her to walk beside him as he looked at her face. It was upturned to the sun, her hair blowing back slightly in the breeze and shining with blue and red from both the reflection of his hair and the sky. She had a small on her face that was slightly lopsided into a goofy grin that seemed to rival the sun in brightness. Happiness just radiated off of her, ignoring the threatening looks of the girls that saw them as they entered the school.

Maybe she wasn't a waste of the human species…


	4. Chapter 4

**Alrighty, here we go! Chapter four of the funniest idea I've thought of to date! I mean, seriously! Don't you wonder how the school girls might react to seeing them walk in at the same time? Of course, that would be normal under…**_**normal **_**circumstances, but these are paranoid, jealous school girls that are trying to get Gaara's attention, and suddenly he's **_**side-by-side**_** with some nobody! WTF?!**

…**But, yeah. (sweatdrops) That's **_**their**_** POV on the situation. I'll let you see for yourself, though! (grins wickedly) Heheh, this is payback, Gaara, for when you pulled me out of that tree with a fishing pole! (glares daggers at Gaara)**

_**Summary: **__That girl suddenly popped up into his life. And she piqued his curiosity, too; she held a secret, and he wanted to find out what it was._

_**Sharingan High**_

As soon as they walked into the school, the nightmare began.

"_Ohemgee, is that Gaara?!_"

"_And there's Naruto, too!_"

"_Over here, Gaara-chan! Look at me!_"

"_I'm right here!_"

Both of the males' eyes twitched in irritation, and they walked quickly down the hallway with the others trailing behind them. Gaara realized that the only real thing that he and the blonde would ever agree with would be the fact that they hate fangirls. They stole into the classroom as quickly as possible to avoid the grasp of a gaggle of giggling girls (DL: Heh, try saying that three times fast! _No, _Aoki, I didn't mean _literally!_) and sit down in their respective seats. Aoki and Sakura couldn't seem to help but giggle at the sight of both of them sighing in frustration, with Gaara's eye still twitching and Naruto letting his forehead meet the desk. They both snapped to attention, though, when Kakashi entered the room, looking a bit perturbed.

Gaara sent Aoki a questioning glance. She tried to look as innocent as possible.

"_Well_, class," Kakashi began, giving the entire group a sour look half hid by his mask, "it seems that we will be unable to do our _lesson _because I have lost my _lesson plans _for the day."

Aoki snickered quietly to herself behind Gaara and whispered something only Gaara and Naruto could hear, "If by 'lesson plans', you mean your Icha Icha Paradise books…" It was answered with a giggle from the blonde and a twitch of Gaara's mouth.

He sent a cold, harsh glare at Aoki, as if he had heard her, and she sank into the seat in an effort to disappear. "If anyone knows _why, _feel free to _tell me._" His visible eye twitched in silent fury, and he grumbled as he put his feet onto the desk in front of him and crossed his arms. Taking that as a cue that class was over, all of the students began talking at once.

"Isn't he, like, the _hottest?_"

"Oh, like, _totally!_"

"The only one _hotter_ than Naruto would have to be, like, Sasuke, or his brother!"

"Yeah, but, like, _Gaara _beats them _both!_"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"Nuh-_uh!_"

"Yeah-_huh!_"

Gaara sighed at the usual chatter around him and turned in his seat to search for some welcome distraction from the gossiping around him. He found his wish in the form of Sakura, Naruto, and Kankuro huddled around Aoki's desk as they whispered quietly to themselves. Curious, Gaara scooted his chair closer discreetly and kept an ear out for their conversation.

"No way, Naruto!" Aoki sounded confident and smug. "I could _so _beat you at 'Super Smash Brothers Melee'!"

"_Phhbt, _as _if!_" He sounded just as proud as she did, except he was more aloof and relaxed. "I'm the _best _there is with Link!"

"Oh, _yeah?_ Well, I'm a Ness _Master!_"

"So? Link's sword is a _lot _cooler than Ness' little _yoyo!_"

"_Hey, _'brains over brawn', baka!"

"_You're _the baka!"

Despite the way they argued, they weren't as vicious and relentless as Naruto and Sakura or him and Sasuke fighting. In fact, they seemed to be teasing each other, and when Gaara glanced at them they had playful looks in their eyes. This was just a normal little scrap between friends that meant nothing. Feeling a bit annoyed by how close of friends they seemed to be, he tried to pull his attention back to his work.

'_5__**p**__ – 4 3__**p**__ + 6_. Feh, that's _easy_ –'

"_Don't you go disrespecting Yoshi, Naruto! That's just __**wrong!**_"

'_Half of the money collected at a show was donated to charity. Tickets cost_ –'

"But he's a freakin' _dinosaur! _Since when did Mario ride _dinosaurs?_"

'Find _**b**_if _3__**b**__/4_ –'

"Just because he's verbally challenged and can only say his name doesn't mean you have the right to make fun of him!"

Sighing, he snapped the book shut and gave up on working on the homework, deciding that he would turn around to watch the room. Unfortunately, doing that gave him a full view of Aoki's desk behind him, and of the other girls in the room staring at him. He made sure he didn't make eye-contact with any of them, instead choosing the lesser of the two evils and looking at the group behind him to examine them.

Aoki sat at her desk with the others gathered around her, staring straight at where Gaara had had his back turned. When he turned, however, she quickly adverted her gaze away from him, blushing slightly as she asked (with a st-st-stutter) Sakura the time. He smirked, wondering why she had been staring at him, but he shrugged it off as a 'female thing' and decided to ponder that morning.

'I wonder what that talk concerning Language Arts was about,' he mused as he watched her hair's sheen turn pink as Sakura leaned closer to talk to her. 'It seemed as if it came from personal experience, like it was a speech from the heart.' He shook his head and mentally scowled at the way he had put it, but he continued his train of thoughts nonetheless. 'She had spoken it with such sorrow, and yet she avoided explaining how she knew so as if it was a secret or something.'

"Aoki?" He blinked as Naruto's concerned voice cut through his thoughts. Aoki's eyes had strayed over to the window, and she had remained silent for a while until he had spoken up. "Are you okay?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah," she waved his concern off with a smile. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" He frowned at her. "I mean, I was talking about going out for ramen tonight and you didn't say a thing!"

"Not _everyone _has a strange craving for ramen like _you _do, Naruto!" Everyone laughed as Sakura whapped him in the head, although it was done with a lighthearted smile as he pretended to scowl and rub his head with feigned hurt. It was all the normal going-ons of a group of friends, and Kankuro seemed to fit in with them just fine.

Other than that far-off look Aoki had.

'She has a secret,' he deduced as he watched her, trying to read her mind. 'And I'm going to find out what it is.'

(DL: Another time-skip! YEAH! (does happy dance) This is now noon, during lunch. Hope you're enjoying this so far!)

_12:05_

Math, History, Science, and Art before Lunch (D), and Orchestra, Computer Skills, and Language Arts afterwards. A full day. That was Gaara's schedule.

Math, History, Art, Foreign Language, Lunch (D), Foreign Language (2), Science, Language Arts. Yeah, _confusing_. But that was Aoki's schedule.

Gaara arrived at the cafeteria to see the usual mob of people grouping near the entrance and near the lines. Most tables had at least a few people sitting there already, so he searched for his brother, although he already had an idea of where he was. His suspicions were confirmed when he spotted Kankuro hanging out with Naruto and the others at a table in the _far _corner of the _opposite_ side of the cafeteria.

Now, he _only _had to get there in one piece.

_Hmmm…_

"_Gaara! _Ooh, look over _here, _Gaara!"

"(Gasp) No, look at _me!_ I'm right here, Gaara!"

"Where's that _hunk_ of a brother of yours, Gaara?"

He _only _had to get there in one piece…

Eventually, many fangirl mobs later, he found himself at the table just as Kankuro said something about finishing his homework. Gaara rolled his eyes. 'Of course; he had been too busy goofing off yesterday and getting ready to be late today. No time for homework until lunch.' Sakura said something along the same lines, although Gaara had more faith in her than his own brother (which is sad), and so there was only Naruto and Aoki left when he decided to sit down with them. As he set his tray down, Naruto looked up at him with his trademark ridiculously huge grin on his face. "Heya, Gaara! How are you?"

"Fine," he stated dryly, his eye twitching at the mere thought of the fangirls he had to get through. He had to abandon his _jacket_ just to _escape, _for crying out loud! Somewhere in the lunchroom, there sat a group of girls drooling and fighting over who would get to touch it. He sighed irritably, glaring at Aoki when she laughed at him. "What's so funny?"

"It's just – you look so –" She held her stomach as she laughed, as if it was starting to hurt, and Naruto looked at her with panic and began to pat her on the back hard, yelling, "_Breathe, Aoki, breathe!_" After a moment or two, Aoki finally calmed down enough to take a deep shuddering breath, but when she looked at Gaara again she started back up. Naruto groaned and hit his head onto the table, before he sat back up and grabbed Aoki's shoulders, shaking her slightly. "Calm down, Aoki! It's not that funny!"

"Yes – _haha_ – yes, it is!"

Gaara's eye twitched as she continued to laugh at him. It was as if he was entertainment. 'Her giggling is starting to get annoying now.' He crossed his arms and glared at her. "I still fail to see what's so funny."

"I'm – I'm – oh, _God! _– oh, I'm sorry!" She put her hand on her heart and took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. She wiped the tears from her eyes as her laughter reduced to a small smile directed towards the redhead. "I'm sorry, Gaara-san! Really!" She cleared her throat and began to open her mouth, but Gaara didn't want to take any chances (she could start laughing again), and so he shoved her apple into her open mouth before she could say anything else. She was surprised for a moment, but then she cast him a glare as she took a bite of the apple, which Gaara ignored in favor of his own tray.

He had picked the turkey and mashed potatoes just so he could push his spoon into the center of the big mound and make a huge dent in it, forming a 'gravy volcano'. He made it as deep as possible (the bottom touching the surface of the tray) so that the gravy pooled into it, and he flicked a turkey cube and watched as it landed with a '_plop!_' in the gravy. He usually didn't eat much anyways, so this was one of his pastimes at lunch.

He had a _lot _of time on his hands.

He got a few more 'goals', earning him strange looks from the other two. Naruto had to flick a bit of gravy off of his orange jacket and stared at the redhead. Gaara, however, just stared at the spot the gravy had been.

If that jacket was black and red and had an hourglass-like symbol on the back, it would look just like his…

"I liked that jacket…" He grumbled sourly to himself, fuming, not really expecting anyone to have heard that. But, Aoki must have, because she patted him on the back with a kind smile and told him, "Don't pout! I think you look better without it on, anyways!"

'But I liked that jacket – and I do not pout…' Thinking over what else she had said, however, he turned to face her and asked, "So you think I look hotter without clothes on?"

"W-W-Wha? _No!_ I mean…"

"So, you like how I look in black tank tops and baggy pants?"

"Err…what I mean is…"

"Or do you hate my jacket because it covers my muscles?"

"I – it's not that!" He liked to mess with her, and he was rewarded as her face grew red with frustration, making him smirk inwardly as she tried to explain herself. "What I mean is – it's not that you don't – you don't need it to – _argh!_" Her head met the table with a '_thump!_' as she groaned.

"You really should learn how to bail yourself out of these situations," Gaara told her casually, earning a look from a confused Naruto. He ignored him, instead leaning over to whisper in Aoki's ear, "You would think that someone as clever and attractive as you could make an escape plan, or at least get a boyfriend."

"You would think…" She muttered in reply, seemingly ignoring that last comment on her appearance as her face remained down on the table as if to hide it from him. This made Gaara expose his smirk to the world, getting yet another look from Naruto, and he told her, "What is your next plan, anyways? Perhaps _I _could help you."

"None of your bee's wax."

"Fine." If she didn't want his help, then that was her loss.

_3 p.m._

Gaara glanced at the clock. 'Just fifteen minutes…fifteen more…'

"_Hee hee, _isn'the_ ca-YUTE!_"

"_Oh, yeah! _I've_ always _lovedredheads!"

"They'vegotit going_ ON!_"

His eye twitched. 'Fourteen…'

"_I _bet he can_ dance, too!_"

"Well, _duh! _Of _course _Gaara-chan dance!"

"He's probably a _professional dancer!_"

"I'd _love _to tango with _him!_"

'Thirteen…'

He was going to kill someone. He just knew it.

"He'd just look so _handsome _with a rose in his mouth!"

"Ooh, talk about _romantic!_"

_Ring!_

"Oh, I've got a call…hello? Who is it, I'm really busy –" Pause. "…_What?! How __**dare **__she? _Ugh, hold on, I'll be _right there!_" _'Click!' _"Ugh, I can't _believe it!_"

"What? What's wrong?"

"Some chick's trying to steal Gaara's jacket from us! That little brat – we got it _first!_"

Gaara smirked at that. 'Females are all the same…'

"Alright, so while I deal with that freaky red-eyed girl, _you _stay here and keep an eye on Gaara-chan!"

"You can count on that!" Lots of random giggles.

Gaara shook his head as he watched the girl leave the room. It seemed that he _was _the most popular kid in school, with Sasuke, Naruto, Neji, and (can you believe it?) Kiba close behind. 'Girls can be predictable sometimes –'

Then, something registered in the back of his mind. 'Did she say _red-eyed_ girl?'

Immediately, he followed the girl, ignoring the squeals coming from the girls who tried to follow _him_. For some reason, the loudmouth blonde came to his rescue (damn him) and stood before them, distracting them long enough for Gaara to make his escape. 'Damn. I suppose I'll have to thank him later…' He shrugged it off as he began to turn a corner, but then he quickly hid behind it again to instead peek around and watch the scene unnoticed.

Several girls were ganging up on Aoki, backing her up against the lockers; one of them was Ino, someone that Gaara only recognized because she had once walked up to him and Sasuke in an attempt to ask one of them out. In the end, she couldn't decide, so they made their escape before her posse could overwhelm them. It was one of the few days they worked in collaboration. Beside her, all of the girls cracked their knuckles and looked at Aoki threateningly with glares that would shiver normal people to the bone. Aoki wasn't normal, however, for she just smiled brightly at them and said, "Hey, girls! How's it going?"

'She really _can't _get out of these situations, can she?' Gaara shook his head, but as he did he noticed something in Aoki's hands behind her back. There, she held his jacket, protecting it as if it was something precious to her. He realized that, although she held a smile on her face, they didn't quite reach her eyes, which were filled with something that could only be called pure hatred. There was a sort of untainted malice behind that wicked smile of hers.

It was almost as if she was pulling a Gaara!

"_Nothing's _going _anywhere!_" Ino took a step forward, trying to intimidate her. When that didn't work, she huffed and held out her hand and ordered, "Give that jacket back!"

"No!" She looked down at the jacket, feeling the material for a moment, before looking back at Ino with the same evil smile. "I rather like how it feels. Maybe I should try it on…"

"_No!_" Nearly all of the girls screamed at her, but before they could do a thing Aoki threw it around herself and put her arms through the sleeves. As she slipped it on, her smile turned into a cruel smirk. "It feels _comfy._" She raised an arm to rub the material across her cheek, her eyes never leaving Ino's as the blonde's hands clenched in fury. She only widened her smirk as Ino began to yell at her. 'She's doing it on purpose,' Gaara realized (DL: Took ya while, huh, Gaara? _Ow! _That _hurt!_ (grumbles) Stupid sand-in-the-pants…) as her eyes twinkled mischievously.

"You shouldn't be wearing that, you _whore_ nobody!" Ino pointed an accusing finger at Aoki. "_You're _trying to get to Naruto-chan _and _Sasuke-chan, too! _Slut!_"

"_Look who's talking!_" Suddenly, Aoki didn't look so happy anymore. In fact, she looked rather angry. She spat, "And _why _would I want to go out with my friend? That's all Naruto is; a blonde, loud, obnoxious friend!" Eyeing Ino with a sudden glint in her eyes, she added, "_Besides_, Sasuke's hair looks like a pink duck sat on his head!"

"It does _not!_" That insult seemed to have hit a raw nerve in Ino. "It's _your _fault, _anyways!_"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Aoki's grin was back, some of the malice gone as she probably thought of her accomplishment. She ignored the temper of the girls around her as she chuckled and said, "It was probably an improvement."

"_Why you little_ –" They all lunged forward to grab her, but suddenly Aoki leapt up and round-kicked Ino on her side, knocking her over into the others. She quickly leapt over them while they were stunned, and she came around the corner Gaara hid behind and bumped into him. While _she _was stunned, he quickly grabbed her hand and ran down the hallway, dragging her behind him. He only stopped when they were a safe distance from the girls, and she panted slightly while he just remained silent the entire time. After she regained her breath, she looked at him in quiet awe before she asked, "Why…?"

"Teaming up on someone isn't right," Gaara told her as if he was telling a two-year-old. Honestly, who _didn't _know that? Aoki, obviously, as well as those girls. 'What has become of the world?' Then, as another thought came to him, he added, "And you never seem to be able to get yourself out of those messes, anyways."

Aoki scowled at him, but then she smiled and said, "Thank you." Her warm smile was back, not the crazy and wicked smile she gave the girls. That wasn't a smile. That was a promise; a promise to make their lives a living Hell.

He waved it off, however, by saying, "It's the least I could do after what _you _did." To himself, he added, 'It's not like I _need _anymore debts or IOU's…'

She must have just remembered that she was wearing his jacket, for she blushed slightly and started to take it off. Suddenly, he stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder, making her freeze to look at him. The action had been instantaneous, something he didn't even think about, and so when he realized what he did he quickly slid it off and said stiffly, "Keep it."

"…Wha? But, you…"

Gaara shrugged, staring at her from the corner of his eye. "It's just a jacket."

She blinked, frowning at him for a moment, before she gave him a grin and nodded. When she thought he wasn't looking, she rubbed her face against the sleeve again, which made Gaara smirk to himself. He suggested, "If you wore it, and could keepit _on_, maybe those girls would leave you, hopefully me, alone."

She looked a little shocked at the offer, but she seemed to recover instantly as she nodded again to show she understood. "Yeah. Thanks, Gaara-san."

"Besides…you probably look better in it than I do."

She blushed a lot at that comment, but he quickly covered it up by adding, "After all, I'm _hot _without it on. You said so yourself."

"No, I didn't!" She playfully pushed him a little, something she received with a bit more force. Her face was flushed as she persisted, "You just _wish _I said that!"

"No, I heard you loud and clear. 'You look better without it, anyways.' That's what you said."

"But I didn't say you were _hot!_"

"So, you're saying I'm _not _hot?"

"No, you are! I mean, no, I'm – I…I…" She bowed her head to hide her face and told him, "Shut up!" He just smirked at her, his mood lifted from the earlier annoyance (aka the fangirls). It was good to have Aoki around; she lifted his spirits considerably, and she was fun to poke at.

Besides, maybe she would tell him her secret one day, or teach him her awesome pranking skills.


	5. Chapter 5

**OMG! I made a mistake in the previous chapter! I forgot to add 'Gym' to their schedules… (sweatdrops) Me sorry! Their new schedules are:**

**Gaara: Math, History, Science, and Gym before Lunch (D), and Orchestra, Computer Skills, and Language Arts**

**and Aoki: Math, History, Foreign Language, and then Gym before Lunch (D), Foreign Language (2), Science, Language Arts**

**And now, I have been totally consumed by this story. (laughs) Surprising, since I promised myself I wouldn't let me get sucked into it – but I'm glad I did! I've let myself go, really, just writing to be funny and still make a plot (somewhat). This is all in Gaara's view (in a weird, 3****rd**** POV way…) and it follows him FOREVER. But, he will do MORE than just be attacked by hungry fangirls or hang out with his family (as if he does that ANYWAYS!). OH, NO! There's a LOT more to that! (smiles) I won't spoil it, though! On with the (funny) fic!**

_**Summary: **__That girl suddenly popped up into his life. And she piqued his curiosity, too; she held a secret, and he wanted to find out what it was._

_**Sharingan High**_

_Tuesday, 7 a.m._

Just to be a little blitch-without-the-'l' (felt like being 'cute'; don't ask), I will tell you that Aoki did, indeed, keep that jacket. In fact, she wore it the very next day. And the next. And the _next _day. And…well, you get the point. She basically grew attached to the damn thing. I mean, it was as if she needed it to breathe or something! Even at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar with Naruto later Monday night, for crying out loud! She wore it when she went to bed, when she trained with Sakura…

Whoa! Can't get _too _ahead of myself! It's only seven on Tuesday morning, after all! Back to Gaara…

The redhead found himself, as usual, lying on his back staring at the ceiling. He was letting the previous day's events wash over his mind repeatedly so he could examine them, dissect, find out what made it tick, etc. And then, he would put it all together and look at the big picture like it was a blueprint for a skyscraper made of toothpicks. Then, he would reject all 'inferior' explanations for more 'logical' ones. In other words, he cast out stupid ideas and admitted his _own _thoughts and plans. 'Stupid' usually including things his sister or brother would say to him about the situation.

He could hear what his sister would say now about giving Aoki the jacket. _"You're so sweet! Why aren't you ever nice to anyone else like that? Anything I missed?"_ And then, his brother would have his fun, too. _"Ha, I __**knew**__ you'd get a girlfriend one day! Just had to wait and watch! So, what've you guys been __**doing, **__huh?"_ Yep, that would be them. Same, air-headed, annoying brother and stubborn, annoying sister as always. 'What I wouldn't do to be alone like Aoki…'

Okay, well, she wasn't alone, since she was Sakura's roommate, but he meant that she didn't have to deal with her family. Well, that might be because she didn't seem to _have _any. Strange. He had forgotten to question her about her family. After all the talking and jacket and such, it must have slipped his mind. 'I'll ask her today,' he decided as he got up. He looked at the clock. Only 7:05. Time seemed to move slowly in the morning. 'Oh well,' he grunted to himself while he got out of his bed and over to the window. 'I think I'll give her an early greeting.' He wrote a short note, taped it to the windowsill, and then gradually eased the window open so he could get out.

A few minutes later, he found himself at Aoki's house, standing in the front yard. No lights were on, except in the bedroom windows on the second floor. Not questioning why he had decided to come this early, he strode silently to the side of the house until he stood beneath Aoki's window. He squinted up at the dimly lit windowpane, but he couldn't make out anyone in there. So, after fumbling with the tree until he found the button, he climbed up and into her room without saying a word.

There, he found the lamp beside her bed on as she slept, unawares of her visitor. She was curled up at the foot of her bed, her hands beneath her head like paws with books all around her on the bed. It seemed she had stayed up late last night to study for something, which turned out to be Math after he looked at the textbooks. She also had a few books written in different languages that he couldn't even begin to comprehend, and yet she was nearly finished with most of them. Her nose was breathing in the scent of something that suspiciously looked like a French romance novel, and he smirked at the picture she made as she gave a small sigh in her sleep.

He looked around the room after deciding that she would wake up on her own _eventually_. After all, there _was _school today. So, his gaze traveled across the room, darting from the television that had the cameras (still showing the hallways empty), to the poster of a black panther hanging above her bed, to the desk sitting in the corner farthest from the bed. It was probably over there because she might bump into it in her morning daze or something. Curious, he walked over to the black writing table and pulled open a drawer with the softest of squeaks. In it, there was something wrapped in a gentle violet silk, and he picked it up and uncovered it to see a small book nestled in the cloth like an egg in a nest. Fascinated, he opened the cover to stare at the pages within, and found himself…

Confused.

'What the _hell _does this say?' He was staring at the oddest thing in the world; it was as if whoever wrote it put random letters together and acted as if they were words. '_E lyh'd fyed du kad so ufh ruica_?What does _that _mean?' There were numbers on the top of each page, like a planner, but the rest was incomprehensible to him. He raised an eyebrow at it, trying to find out what it could possibly be. But, no matter how smart and logical his mind was, he could not figure for the life of him what it meant. 'Damn, it's in code…' He glanced at the still sleeping Aoki on her bed and nodded slightly. 'Smart girl.' He tried a couple more times to decipher it ('_Drnuf sela ehdu lyvadaney_?'), but it ultimately ended up in him being frustrated and nearly breaking the book in half. Finally, he decided that he would figure it out later, and he discreetly put the book into his pants pocket, checking to make sure it didn't show, and glanced to make sure Aoki was asleep. She was. 'Talk about 'luck'…' Fed up with her confusing-ness (although it really wasn't her fault; he shouldn't have been snooping) and laziness, he strode over to the bed and gently shook her so as to not alarm her. The last thing he needed was to have her scream and wake up the entire neighborhood.

When she didn't respond, Gaara shook a bit harder. She grumbled something about pigs eating all of the brownies and rolled over on her side, her face now facing him as she inhaled the fragrance of a book he didn't even _know _the language of. Getting a bit more frustrated with her, he leaned down to put his mouth beside her ear and whispered, "Get up."

Still not responding, she just sighed and clung tightly onto a book in her hands; an English science-fiction novel. 'She likes the 'Mechwarrior' series?' Shaking his head slightly and giving a small grumble of irritation, he repeated a bit louder, "Get _up_."

This time, she groaned a bit and stretched her arms out, brushing his chest lightly as she mumbled about 'not time for it' and 'five more minutes'. His eye twitching, Gaara bent over and was going to smack her awake (DL: Heh, he's got no patience, (mumbles) like me…) when she suddenly snapped up and bumped into him. Although their heads didn't connect (which hurts a _lot_), she did smash her forehead into his chin, and as they both held their faces in their respective places (DL: (does happy dance) I rhymed!) their eyes scrunched shut and they hissed, "_Oww!_"

At the sound of each other's voices, though, they both froze and opened their eyes to stare at each other. Gaara didn't say a thing, since he found no reason (or excuse) to, so he just stared silently as she opened her mouth without saying a word. She did a fascinating impression of a fish for a while, opening and closing her mouth, before she blinked and asked quietly, "Why are you…?"

Gaara gave her a small shrug as her answer, and then she furrowed her brows together and asked him, "_How'd_ you get here?"

"Window." He wasn't going to lie, honestly. People didn't like it when you lie; if she didn't like him, then she wouldn't tell him her secret/teach him her pranking skills. (DL: Honestly, I wouldn't, _either…_)

"…_Oh…_" She seemed to take that better than expected, until she tilted her head and gave one of her small, rare frowns. "You mean you know how…?"

Nod.

"Oh…" Again with the soft answers. If he wasn't so confused by her, he would compare her reply to his own (one-worded). Speaking of confused, he noticed that she had on his jacket. While it was a bit self-satisfying to see she had actually taken his advice, he was wondering why she wore it to bed. Did she _really _like it that much? He'd have to ask her some time.

Then, she got up from her bed and made her way to her closet, bringing out one of her infamous black outfits, and hopped into her bathroom with a quick 'gonna change!', leaving him alone with her stuffed cat as his only company. Said stuffed animal stared at him with the creepiest of blood-red eyes, matching Aoki's only in color, something any normal person would shiver at. Gaara, though, was used to such staring (after having a brother with a strange fascinations of puppets, _you _would be, too!) and he wasn't normal to begin with, so he simply pondered over the fact that she _had _one. Coincidently, it was black (what a freakin' surprise!) with the word 'love' written in kanji on its back. Although the kanji was purple, it still seemed a bit odd how eerily familiar it was to his own tattoo.

He gave a glare at the cat, not knowing why the toy seemed to send one back. Maybe it was just his imagination…?

Then, Aoki emerged from the bathroom, distracting him enough to look away from the doll and examine her. Yep, she still wore the jacket; she had it over a spaghetti-strap tank top and form-fitting capri pants (which were, again, black) and a pair of sandals. When she saw him staring at her, she seemed to get a little self-conscious, because she played with the edge of _her _(not his anymore) jacket and refused to meet his gaze. To try to divert his attention from her unease, she asked him, "Is Sakura-chan up?"

"I don't know," he had to say because she wouldn't have seen him shrug. A look of curiosity overcame her embarrassment, and she glanced over at the television, examining the cameras. Gaara looked as well, seeing Sakura standing at the stove with a spatula in her hand, and was confused when Aoki gasped in shock and fear. He looked at her with a questioning look in his eyes, but she just leapt up and ran out the door, leaving him blinking in bewilderment. He watched the cameras and followed her running form all the way to the kitchen, where she nearly tackled Sakura and snatched the spatula from her. Even if the camera _didn't_ have a microphone, he could hear Aoki yell, "Do you _want _to burn the house down? Remember what happened _last time?_"

Sakura pouted on the video, but she decided not to argue and instead crossed her arms to show her displeasure. Aoki returned the utensil to its place in a drawer and walked back up the stairs, wiping the sweat from her brow with a relieved look on her face. She returned to her room to see a blinking Gaara, and she chuckled nervously and tried to explain. "Sakura-chan can't cook really good, so I had to stop her before I became homeless…" She scratched the back of her head timidly and glanced at the camera as an excuse to look away from his piercing gaze. Amused, he let her off easy and glanced at the clock. '7:15…Time really _does _go slow in the morning.'

"Gaara?"

"Hm?" Gaara's attention returned to the fidgeting girl before him.

"Would you…" She couldn't seem to find the right words. "When we get to school…could you…"

"Could I…?"

She seemed to be getting redder by the minute as she tried desperately to form words. "I need…my Math…" She groaned and held her head, as if her head was starting to hurt from all of her stuttering.

Gaara smirked and coolly replied, "You would like my help in Math because you are currently failing, am I right?" His smirk grew bigger as she snapped her head up quickly to look at him and, after a moment, nodded sheepishly. He made as if to think, frowning slightly in fake contemplation, his mouth twitching slightly at the desperate look on her face. Finally, he shrugged and said casually, "Sure."

Unexpectedly, Aoki squealed and hugged him with a big '_thank you, Gaara-chan!_', surprising Gaara as her arms fit around his chest perfectly as if they were meant to be there. After a few seconds in this awkward position, she suddenly let go and looked away, blush staining her face and causing her ears to look like they were burning. She muttered shyly, "I mean, thanks…"

Gaara blinked, still shocked for a moment, before he snapped out of it and shook his head with a shaky, "No problem." For some reason, he had felt something warm when she hugged him, and it wasn't her body heat. Perplexed, he thought about it as she started to get her stuff ready. 'This girl just keeps getting more and more interesting…'

_Tuesday, 10: 55 a.m. (Gym)_

Gaara stepped out of the boys' locker room with a small tight-lipped frown. He didn't like 'physical education' or whatever the hell they decided to call it; they could call it 'training from hell', for all he cared. It's not that he wasn't fit, as most of the female population would object to, but he didn't deem it necessary to run around with no real purpose in mind and expect to get into a model-suited body. It took more than just laps around the football field and a few (hundred) push-ups; it was something you had to actually work at. So, in short, Gym was a complete waste of time.

He tugged irritably at the black shorts and maroon shirt they had assigned as the uniform for Gym. Many others came out with the same outfit, looking just as displeased as he did. 'Damn school colors,' he grumbled to himself as he went out to the track. In truth, it wasn't really the colors themselves that bothered him, but the shade they had chosen for the shirt looked more brown then red, and the shorts were just…well, annoying. Girls wore skirts around the same length, something that barely went past their fingertips, although a good wind would pick it up quite easily. The coaches encouraged the girls to wear shorts underneath as well.

As he got to his position, a pair of raven-heads caught his attention. He turned his head slightly to get a better view, and he inwardly scowled as he caught sight of the Uchiha brothers stretching and getting warmed up. 'I guess they finally got it all out.' Their family had ties to the school and purposely put the brothers in all of the same classes in attempts to get them to bond. And when I say 'all', I mean '_all_' of their classes. Their schedules looked one and the same, even though they were in separate grades. This was their last year of torture, for Itachi graduated this year, and yet there was still tension between the two. Any efforts at a brother-to-brother relationship were shot down every time; they were just too competitive with each other.

_Speaking of competition,_ Kankuro grinned at Gaara and gave him a thumbs-up. Gaara rolled his eyes but nodded in response. He knew what his brother meant by that. That thumbs-up meant 'I'm gonna kick your ass, but let's make it a race', and Gaara's returning nod said 'I'll humor you for now'. Funny how they were so different, and yet they could tell what the other really meant. It was their sister that was a mystery; they both agreed that they would never understand her, although for different reasons.

'It's the _only _thing we agree on,' Gaara determined as the coaches' yells alerted them to get ready. He got up to the starting line, giving a discreet glance around to see who else was running. It seemed the coaches had divided them first by gender, and then by their classes. Gaara and Kankuro were in Gai's class, while the Uchiha brothers were in Iruka's. As Gai's class lined up, a teenager with black hair in a bowl haircut and thick eyebrows came up with a goofy grin on his face. He looked straight at Gaara's glare unwavering, stating clearly without words that he wasn't afraid of him. Gaara's eyes narrowed. 'So, there's a third challenger.' Still confident as ever, the redhead stepped up to the line with a smooth gait, his eyes focused on the path ahead. He would give the boy something to be afraid of.

"Ready?" Gai held up an old fashioned flag with their symbol on it (a leaf with a swirl in the middle), getting ready to yell 'go' to the impatient racers. The bowl-headed boy, however, stopped him by yelling at the top of his lungs:

"_I, Rock Lee of Konoha, shall beat each and every one of you fair and square in this friendly competitive race!_"

Groans and grumbles ran throughout the crowd as he stepped back into line, and Iruka could be seen slapping his forehead in embarrassment. Gaara couldn't help but roll his eyes at the imbecile. 'What an idiot. He's not worth my time.' Kankuro seemed to have gotten a kick out of his little speech, however, and gave his sibling a look that said 'that speech was meant for you, Gaara'. The redhead responded in kind with a glare that said 'shut up and get ready to lose' as Gai raised his flag once more. Everyone quieted down instantly, anticipation making the air grow thick with tension.

Gaara rolled his eyes once more. 'Idiots. I should kick all of their asses for even _thinking _they could beat me.' He stood relaxed, but ready, and waited for the swish of the flag…

"_Go!_"

Everyone was off immediately, with the more athletic boys in the front. Gaara kept a good lead on everyone, although the gap was closed quickly by the Uchiha brothers and, surprising, the bowl-headed kid. He had his jaw set with determination, something that made his eyebrows furrow like two agitated caterpillars, and Gaara had to tear his eyes away from them forcefully and return his attention to the race. He didn't need to throw up when he was determined to make everyone eat his dust.

He gave a glance over to Sasuke and Itachi on his left to see that they were neck-to-neck, as usual. Sasuke was trying as hard as he could to pass his older brother, who seemed to keep at the same pace with ease and kept him from passing. While the latter seemed to be going easily, the younger one was already getting a bit exhausted after going for such a strong start. They both tore around the second corner of the track and dashed to the end, nearly passing Gaara, but the redhead used another burst of speed and kept ahead of them. He got in front of them and, when he was satisfied that they would be too occupied with each other to notice, turned his attention back to Lee. Surprisingly, he was not too far behind, only a little behind and to the right of the Uchiha brothers, and he determined that maybe the kid had a reason to be so sure of his abilities. Not one to just stop and give up, though, Gaara just smirked inwardly and sped up, thinking, 'Now I have yet _another _rival. At least he's too hideous to rival me in popularity.'

As he passed the first lap and got onto the second, he noticed that his brother had finally caught up. Not one for speed, Kankuro had bided his time until the second lap to really push himself, which paid off in the end as he passed several of the already tuckered out students and continued on towards Gaara. The redhead just kept running, although he was inwardly smirking. His brother was always trying to beat him.

Trying.

They finally reached the third and final lap, and it was just them five in the front; Gaara, Sasuke, Itachi, Kankuro, and Lee. The bowl-head looked determined as ever, pumping his legs as fast as he could. Gaara, however, wasn't worried, as he kept a fairly good distance ahead of him. He wouldn't lose. He couldn't lose. He _never _lost. He had done a draw _once_, but that was on an off-day. Today, he felt good. _Really _good. No one could beat him.

As he ran, he caught sight of a familiar midnight-head in the crowd watching them. His eyes trained on the form of Aoki grinning widely and waving at him, cheering him on. She jumped up and down to get his attention, waving little red flags she seemed to have acquired from nowhere as she yelled, "Kick their asses! Make 'em eat your dust!"

Gaara smirked and returned his attention to the race. It felt…better to have her cheering him on instead of all of those damn fangirls. Wait a moment…where _were _they? He nearly faltered in his step, but he quickly recovered and kept ahead of the gaining Uchiha brothers. Kankuro was lagging the farthest behind, with Lee desperately trying to pass Sasuke and Itachi. The two made a sort of wall, however, that moved side-to-side to block the bowl-head from get ahead of them. They were doing the job for him. 'Too easy, really.' He passed the finishing line, immediately hearing the crowd cheering for him and the other racers. Sasuke's fans seemed to feel bad for him and were trying to cheer him up, while Itachi's group did the same.

But Gaara's pack was bigger.

He was nearly thrown off balance when suddenly he was tackled by a midnight-haired blur. He stumbled slightly as Aoki hugged him and giggled, "_Yay!_ And Gaara wins the Derby, earning him the gold trophy!" She smiled and laughed, while the redhead blinked in surprise as she kept her close quarters. After a moment, though, he found that there were several girls glaring at her, and she must have felt it as well for she quickly let go of him and brushed his shirt off lightly, her face tilted down so no one (except Gaara) could see her blush. He mentally rolled his eyes at her. 'And _she _was the one not wanting anyone to get the wrong ideas.'

However, he did quite like that hug. That feeling from before at her house when she had hugged him had returned, and he was trying to figure out what it was. Unfortunately, the coaches wouldn't let him, as they went ahead with the next race. Aoki groaned as the girls started to go up to the line. "But I don't _wanna_ run!"

Gaara almost rolled his eyes, but instead he said, "You'll do fine; all you have to _do_ is run."

"But…but…"

"What, are you scared you'll lose?"

"_No!_"

"Then go."

"But…I…"

He pushed her forward, watching as she stumbled a little before regaining her balance and glaring at him. He shrugged and said, "Your body secretly pushed you; even it wants you to run. Might as well listen to it." He smirked as she sighed and went up to the line, and he wondered if he could get her to do other things with just a push. Would she give him another hug if someone pushed her?

The race started, but as soon as everyone started moving, Aoki's clumsy feet tripped over themselves and made her fall face-first. As she lay twitching on the ground eating dirt, Gaara sweatdropped and sighed. 'Good Lord, she'd trip over a _ladybug…_'

What the _hell _did he get himself into?


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, chapter six! Wahoo! I love this series! I've got the funniest idea for this chapter! I'm serious, it's **_**hilarious!**_** It includes candy, random funny songs, and a group of confused teenagers! X3 I can't **_**wait **_**until you read it! This is one of my most favorite stories to write, because it's supposed to look like someone made it while on crack! (laughs) 'That's a knee-slapper! (slaps knees)' That's a quote from a gay friend of mine in my law class.**

**(listens to snickers) Hey, don't be mean to gay people! They have feelings, too! 3X Sometimes more than other people! I'm serious; Rashad (or however the hell you spell his name) is a good person, although a bit lazy sometimes and likes to say the 'f' word lots. I don't. 3X**

**Gay friends! YAY! (throws confetti)**

_**Summary: **__That girl suddenly popped up into his life. And she piqued his curiosity, too; she held a secret, and he wanted to find out what it was._

_**Sharingan High**_

_Wednesday, 4:00 p.m. (after school)_

"Hey, Sasuke-kun!"

Both the redhead and the Uchiha rolled their eyes before turning around to look at Sakura and Aoki walking towards them, the latter trying to keep Sakura back from tackling the raven-headed genius. She barely succeeded, and Gaara stood in front of Sasuke as further protection (hey, they were rivals, but they were still 'friends') as they got closer. When they were close enough for him to reach out and pat either of them on the head, Aoki finally let go with one last warning glare, which Sakura seemed to take to heart as she chuckled nervously before turning to her crush (currently hiding behind Gaara). She smiled and gave a cheery, "Hey! What's up?"

Knowing Sasuke wouldn't speak to her to encourage her more, Gaara answered, "The sky." He wasn't trying to be funny (hey, it's true), but Aoki laughed anyways, and he sent her a questioning look before turning to look at the Uchiha. Sasuke's eye twitched as he glared at the pink-haired girl smiling widely at him, and Gaara could actually sympathize with him; he knew how it felt to be stalked constantly by annoying females.

"Did someone mention the sky?"

They all turned to see Shikamaru standing nearby, looking up towards the clouds. His eyes trailed one of them lazily, but Gaara could tell he was keeping a close watch on the group. His hair waved slightly in the wind, giving him a serene look as he finally turned to them and walked over to stand between Gaara and Aoki. He looked to his right towards the iridescent head there, whose hair slightly reflected the blue from the sky, and nodded in acknowledgement. "Hey."

"Hi!" She grinned at him and held out her hand. "I'm Aoki!"

"Shikamaru." He ignored her hand, instead putting his hands behind his head and looking at them all indifferently. His idle behavior irked Gaara slightly, but the redhead let it go as Shikamaru asked them, "What are you all up to?"

"_Well_," Sakura began, but Aoki elbowed her quickly and interrupted, "I was just, uhh, going home to do some _stuff_! And _Sakura-chan _was just going to say 'hi' to Sasuke and come with me, _right?_" Here, she gave a meaningful stare to the pink-headed girl beside her. When Sakura nodded, Aoki smiled and said, "Right! Let's go!" As she dragged her friend behind her, Sakura yelled out to Sasuke, "Bye, Sasuke-kun! See ya later!"

When they left, all of the guys let out a sigh simultaneously. Shikamaru grumbled as he watched them walk off, "Girls are all troublesome…"

"Agreed." Both Gaara and Sasuke said it at the same time, and then the two glared at each other, electricity going between them as Shikamaru sighed again. He asked them, "Can you two _ever _stop fighting?"

(Simultaneously again) "No." More glaring.

He sighed again. "Troublesome…" He went back to staring at the clouds, trying to find his previous cloud as the two battled silently. It was quiet for a while, the three boys not saying a word, before it was interrupted by a certain blonde loudmouth.

"_Hey,_ guys! Whatchya doin'?"

The way he suddenly popped up in between the three made all of them jump back slightly, but then they all gave a light groan as they glared at Naruto. "What do _you _want, dobe?" Sasuke smirked as Naruto immediately responded to the insult.

"Hey! I'm not a dobe, _dobe!_"

"Yes, you _are_, since you can't think of a better comeback and resort to copying me."

"Shut up, Sasuke!"

"_You_, dobe."

"Shut up!"

"As entertaining (and troublesome) as it is to watch you two argue," Shikamaru stopped them, "What are you doing here, Naruto?"

The blonde did his trademark grin (the one Aoki likes to copy) and answered, "I wanna invite you guys to the Ichiraku Ramen Bar tonight!"

"Why would we want to go?" Sasuke asked coldly, glaring at him. "You go there _every _night."

"Yeah, well, tonight's different!" Naruto's grin never left his face. "Tonight's 'Karaoke Night'!" He looked so bright and sunny, it was surprising that the sun didn't give up trying to outshine him and stalk off.

Gaara blinked. "Karaoke? What is that?"

The others looked at him, sweatdrops appearing on all of their faces. "You don't know what 'karaoke' is?" Naruto looked as if Gaara had grown several heads on his feet. "Are you _crazy?_"

Gaara grew offended. "_No, _I'm _Gaara_."

"There's no _way_ you don't know about karaoke!" He continued on as if he hadn't heard Gaara. "You _have _to come now! I mean, Sakura's gonna be there –"

"Then I'm not," Sasuke immediately spoke up.

"– and so is Hinata and Kiba and Lee and Itachi –"

"I'll be there," Sasuke said suddenly.

"– and Neji and Tenten and Ino and Aoki and –"

"Shut up." Gaara's words were so sudden that Naruto did just that. His mouth closed quickly with an audible '_click!_', and he blinked in confusion as he stared at Gaara. The redhead glared at him and said, "I'm going. But I'm _not _going to eat any 'ramen'. There's probably some addictive drug in there that got you hooked on it like cocaine." As he turned and walked away, leaving the three standing and staring at him with puzzled looks on their faces, he added, "And if I don't like 'karaoke', I'm coming to kill you."

_Wednesday, 6 p.m._

Gaara growled as he sat on a stool. "Where is this 'karaoke' you spoke of, Naruto?" The blonde sat beside him, already slurping down a bowl of ramen.

Naruto looked up and grinned. "It'll be soon!"

_Wednesday, 6:30 p.m._

"_When_ is it coming, Naruto?"

"Soon!"

_Wednesday, 7 p.m._

"Naruto…"

"Hold on, Gaara! It's coming!"

_Wednesday, 7:30 p.m._

"Nar –"

"Wait! Here they are!" Naruto leapt from his seat, letting several empty ramen bowls fall to the floor as he ran over to the microphone just set onto the stage. Gaara watched as he cleared his throat, before he tapped the microphone once and muttered, "Hello? Testing, one-two-three…" After making sure it worked, he grinned his goofy grin and said a little loudly, "Heya, guys! This is Ichiraku's 'Karaoke Night'! Are you all enjoying yourselves?"

Several coughs and grumbles throughout the audience.

"Great!" He looked around the room for a while, before his eyes found someone that made his eyes light up. "Hey, Sakura, how about you come up and sing?"

"_Me?_" The pink-haired teenager looked a bit red in the face as she shook her head. "_No,_ thank you!"

Aoki poked her shoulder and said, "Aww, come on! I bet you sound great!" She grinned evilly. "What, _scared?_"

Gaara frowned. 'She looks like _me _when she smiles like that…does she copy _everyone_ she meets?'

"_No!_"

"Then do it!"

"No way! How about _you _do it?"

"Err…" Now that the tables were turned on her, she didn't look so confident. "I'd rather not…"

"See? Not so tough _now_, huh?" Sakura gave a small 'hmph' of indignation before yelling at Naruto, "_Find someone else, you dolt!_"

"Alright! Geez…" Naruto looked around some more, looking less energetic than he had been, before he suddenly bellowed, "_Hey, Ino, what about you?!_"

Everyone turned to look at the girl-blonde fuming in a stool beside Shikamaru and Chouji, and she looked up at Naruto with a harsh glare and screamed, "_Stop yelling, you moron!_"

"_But __**you're**__ yelling –_"

"_**Shut up!**_"

"_Fine,_ baka…" Although the 'comment' was whispered, he evidently forgot he was at the microphone, because Ino's response was to chuck a shoe at his head, which was barely dodged with a yelp. As Naruto scampered offstage, Ino got up to the microphone stand and cleared her throat. She seemed to be thinking about something, as if wondering what she should sing. She glanced over at the pink-head sitting beside Aoki, however, and a wicked grin found its way on her face. "This song is dedicated to my _dear friend, _Sakura-chan!"

Sakura's eyebrows arched up in surprise, and then came together to ponder as Ino put something into the CD player. A keyboard started the song, and then the 'cherry blossom' gasped and muttered, "Oh, _no,_ she didn't!"

"_Okay, I'm a cheerleader now – U – G – L – Y – you ain't got no alibi – you UGLY (eh, eh!), you UGLY!_"

"_INO!!!_"

_Wednesday, 8:00 p.m._

Another half hour went by with several others getting up to the microphone to sing, until only Gaara, Aoki, Sasuke, Itachi, Shikamaru, Shino, and Chouji hadn't gone up. And they never would. They promised not to.

That is, until…

"Poor _'Sasuke-kun'_," Itachi's mocking voice rang in everyone's ears, and at the nickname everyone heard someone clenching the stool so tightly it crunched slightly, "he won't go up because he's too frightened his big brother will laugh at him. Pity…"

Sasuke glared at his brother and hissed, "_No,_ I just don't want to make you feel _ashamed_ because your _little brother _is _better _than you!"

Itachi returned the glare with a smirk as well. "Oh, _no_, dear brother. I _know _that you cannot amount to the great legacy _I _have put down." He flipped his hair over his shoulder all show-off-y. "It's just too hard for a pipsqueak like you."

"_I accept your challenge!_" Sasuke nearly leapt off of his stool and ran to the microphone, shoving Naruto out of the way (he had been singing his 'chopsticks' song) and grabbing the stand tightly. After clearing his throat, he began to sing:

"_This shining city built of gold, a far cry from innocence –_"

"_Avenged Sevenfold!_" Aoki surprised everyone by leaping up out of her stool with stars in her eyes and jumping up and down. "_Keep singing, keep singing!_"

"_There's more than meets the eye 'round here – look to the waters of the deep. A city of evil…_"

By the time he got to the chorus, Aoki was swaying side-to-side to the beat and humming the song to herself (refraining from opening her mouth to sing, Gaara noted), and by the time the song was done she had been grinning for so long that she must have been in pain. Gaara wondered how she could be so happy about a _song_ as Sasuke got off of the stage, all smug looking and everything. When he walked back to his seat, Sasuke said to his brother, "_So,_ _brother_, what did you think?"

Aoki went to go back to her seat, but someone had already taken it. After blinking for a moment in surprise, she looked around only to find that the closest seat left empty was beside Gaara. He watched in curiosity as she slipped into it as quietly as possible, not meeting his gaze as she hugged the jacket around her more tightly as if she was cold. 'She's still wearing it,' he thought smugly. He had accomplished something, and it made him feel good. He told her to wear it, and so she did. Simple. 'Why can't the world _always _work like this?'

By this time, Sasuke and Itachi had gotten into another yelling fest, and everyone gave out a big, long groan as Itachi shouted, "Alright, _I'll_ go up and show you how _perfect __**I**_ am!" He then proceeded to stomp over much the same way that Sasuke did, snatching up the microphone, clearing his throat, and beginning:

"_City's breaking down on a camel's back – they just have to go, 'cause they don't know whack –_"

Again, Aoki leapt up out of the seat to yell, "_Gorillaz's 'Feel Good Inc.'! WOOT!_" Then, as if just now realizing what she was doing, she quickly ducked down and returned to her seat, looking down at the ground in embarrassment as she twiddled her thumbs. Gaara nearly smirked or snickered at her bashfulness, but he only did it mentally as he watched her pull something out of her pocket to occupy herself with. It was in the shape of a rectangle and in a peculiar silver-ish wrapper…

Inquisitive, Gaara leaned forward so that he was sure she would be able to hear his voice over Itachi's, and he asked, "What's that?" He pointed at her hand to make sure she wouldn't be confused as to what he spoke of.

Aoki blinked owlishly for a moment, staring at his finger, before she finally connected the dots and looked at what was in her hands. After a bit of silence, she sweatdropped and answered, "Chocolate…" She blinked with innocence, as if wondering why he asked.

He blinked back at her. "'Chocolate'?" He had never heard of this before. He had heard of ramen from Naruto, learned of chess from Sasuke (he played a wicked game of chess!), and picked up on dancing from Kiba. But…_chocolate?_ "What is this 'chocolate'?"

"You've _never_ had _**chocolate**_ before?" Aoki looked at him as if he had grown butterfly-sized wings and was going to fly away without a parachute. "Are you _crazy?!_"

"_No._" He was starting to get offended by this. "I'm _Gaara_."

Aoki didn't seem to hear him, however, as she broke off a piece of the strange rectangular block of brown and held it out to him. He stared at it for a while, scrutinizing it with his emerald gaze, until she sighed in exasperation and told him, "_Take it._" After a moment more of looking at it, he finally took it and held it to his face to examine it closer. He heard Aoki's exasperated sigh, and he looked at her as she held up a piece of the brown thing and held it to her mouth. "See?" She popped it into her mouth. "Ifs nummy!" (That was with her mouth full: "It's yummy!")

He frowned, but he decided to humor her and put it into his mouth as well. He chewed it for a moment, blinked, chewed some more, and then swallowed. Aoki was looking at him expectantly. She said slowly, "Weeeeeeeelllll…...?"

Gaara's mouth suddenly turned into a demented-looking smirk, and he looked at her and demanded, "Give me more of this 'chocolate'."

Aoki looked a bit worried, but then she just shrugged and gave him more.

"You know, I have a whole bag full of chocolate here. Wanna share?"

_8:45 p.m.…_

Well, this isn't _exactly _what Gaara remembered. It was all a blur after the tenth chocolate bar him and Aoki shared, and the next thing he knew he woke up in the park sleeping under a tree. He heard this the next day from Sakura and Sasuke, as did Aoki.

First, they were no where to be found. Turns out, they had both ran out of Ichiraku (with Aoki forgetting to pay for her ramen) and across a busy street (surprisingly getting out intact) to the park. They ran around, scaring poor little kids and distressed mothers and climbing trees, as well as messing around on the playground like jumping off of the swings at the highest point and falling down the slide backwards. They seemed to be enjoying it, ignoring any bruises or cuts they got as they had fun.

Then, they had run across the street (again, coming out unscathed) and grabbed Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, then ran into the mall to cause chaos and mayhem, to which Sakura and Naruto agreed to immediately. Sasuke just followed them casually, although he did get the police officers to overlook the fact that the rest of the group had just leapt into the fountain to splash each other and steal quarters. He was just that good.

_Then_, the two left the group confused as they ran through the streets randomly and shouted nonsense at the top of the lungs, before someone called the police and they ran like chickens with their heads cut off until they got away. They then ran back to the park and hid in a tree, waiting for everything to cool off. They only made it down the tree and onto the safe grass before the sugar rush finally faded away, and the sugar 'crash' kicked in. They were out before they could even say, "I'm tired…"

And that's how they found themselves under a tree.

They agreed to NEVER have chocolate again.

At least, not too much…

**Wasn't that HILARIOUS?!?! I couldn't help it, it was just so FUN to write!!! I mean, come on; Gaara and Aoki getting hyper? Running around town? Causing MAYHEM, nonetheless? XD HILARIOUS!!!!!!**

**Well, I REALLY can't stay and chat too long (finished this while working on a homework assignment), so I'll just post and run! (smiles and waves) Bye!**


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